compact SUV

In the car business these days, the trend is to parcel out information about new products in dribs and drabs. Nobody announces a new product any more; they Tweet about it, try to get a little buzz going, then release a photo and a few details to keep the vibe going. Geely Motors seems to understand this dynamic very well. A few days ago, it let it be known that it is creating a new company known as Lynk & Co. It will manufacture cars that fall somewhere between a Geely and a Volvo (also owned by Geely) in price and appointments. Think of Lynk & Co making the Buick that falls between Chevrolet and Cadillac.

Now we have a face to go with the name. The company on Thursday released official photos of its first offering — a tasteful sport utility equivalent in size to the Hyundai Tucson. Smaller utes are all the rage these days, so Lynk & Co seems to have carefully selected its target market to be cars in one of the hottest market segments.

Under the skin, the Lynk & Co 01 will share its Compact Modular Architecture underpinnings with an upcoming compact Volvo SUV, the XC40. That car was previewed earlier this year as the Volvo 40.1 concept. Geely says it 01 (that’s the car’s only name for the moment) offers full connectivity thanks to an open sourced digital platform developed by Microsoft and Alibaba. The chassis has been designed to score well in all international crash test protocols.

The stigma of buying a car manufactured in China seems to be fading. A decade ago, the internet was filled with videos of Chinese-made cars folding up like a cardboard box in a hurricane during crash tests but that was then, this is now. The reality is that people are accustomed to vehicles made in South Korea and Japan. In fact, cars from those companies have earned reputations for being both safe and reliable. That aura seems to have spilled over to Chinese made cars as well.

General Motors is selling lots of Buick Envision compact SUVs in the US, even though they are made in Shanghai. From a few hundred a month in the spring, the Envision sold more than 1,600 units in September. Buick dealerships are clamoring for more as American tastes swing more and more toward smaller SUVs, also known at crossovers or “cute utes.” In China itself, the Envision is hugely popular and is on pace to sell as many as 200,000 units this year.

When GM announced a year ago that it would import the Envision from China, the UAW called it a “slap in the face to U.S. taxpayers” who famously bailed out General Motors after the global economic meltdown of 2008. But GM countered that the decision just made good business sense, since demand for smaller SUVs was mushrooming in the US and the company did not have a domestically produced model to offer its Buick customers. Or as Donald Trump would say, “It’s just business.”

Gas 2’s new “car dating” review format seems to be pretty well received, so far. It finds its strengths, I think, in allowing the car’s first impressions to stand alone, distinct from a more experienced conclusion later on. The “speed dating” format seems to work, too, for cars that we only have access to for a short time. This week’s speed dating article, however, is a bit different because, despite the fact that I had full and unfettered access to the 2016 Chevy Trax for over a week, I barely drove it.

Definitely NOT a Family-friendly SUV

This is my youngest, perched in her kickass Recaro racing child seat and ready for action. You will notice, however, that she doesn’t have a ton of legroom in the Chevy Trax and has already started kicking the snot out of the front seat. This is a new thing for her, because I’m about 5’7″ and tend to stick to something like a NASCAR driving position that keeps me close to the steering wheel. Anyone over 6′ tall can forget about putting people in the back seat.

Looking at that photo, above, you might also notice that the rear passenger foot well of the 2016 Chevy Trax is occupied by a folding umbrella stroller instead of, you know, passenger feet. That’s because the smallest stroller we own won’t fit in the Trax’ trunk. Really.

Basically, if you want to carry any kind of baby stroller in the 2016 Chevy Trax, you’re going to have to fold the seats down, which means this supposedly “smart” SUV is, at best, a 1-kid conveyance.

In all my years of buying, renting, and test-driving cars, that’s simply never happened. Tiny cars like the Mitsubishi iMiEV and Mirage easily accepted an umbrella stroller. Even cars like the compact Toyota Yaris, Nissan Versa, and even Chevy’s own Sonic and Spark had no trouble fitting an umbrella stroller- or even the bigger strollers!- into the trunk. For the Trax to fail here is totally unforgivable. For its part, however, Chevy seems to be aware of the fact that its city smart SUV isn’t even remotely suited to being a family car. As such, the company isn’t marketing the Trax to families, but to people like hoarders collectors, cyclists, musicians, and artists …

… so, yeah. Maybe GM’s plan to market the Trax to college students more creative types will work. Assuming, of course, that they’re childless, friendless creative types who are less than 6′ tall and who can afford the nearly $30,000 out-the-door asking price of my 2016 Chevy Trax tester.

It Only Gets Worse From There

The 2016 Chevy Trax wasn’t made for guys like me, and that’s OK. Not every car is designed around the needs of a thirty-something semi-professional with a wife, a dog, and 2.5 kids- and that’s a truly great thing. Still, I found two other fundamental flaws in the Trax that, I believe, will make it a no-go for its target audience, too.

First, the cup holders suck.

I know, I know. That’s a pretty petty argument to make, but if you’re selling a car to “cyclists” then the car in question should be able to accommodate larger sports bottles in its cup holders, and the Trax simply cannot.

Second, there is only one USB port, hidden away in a separate “phone bin” on the passenger side of the cabin … and it was too small to fit my iPhone 6 Plus.

Granted, an iPhone 6 Plus is a large phone. And, in fairness, I do keep mine in a protective case that adds a few millimeters to its external dimensions, but the inability to accommodate one of industry’s most popular phone models in a supposedly “smart” car that’s being marketed to relatively well-off young, urban creatives is- it’s … I honestly couldn’t tell you if it was baffling, hilarious, or just sad.

The 2016 Chevy Trax, then, is a car that I wanted to like when I first saw it, but which doesn’t fit into my life. Like, at all. Or the life of anyone I know. Or the life of anyone I could think of. It is a tiny car that is probably dependable and is an IIHS Top Safety Pick. Other than that, I really can’t think of any reason why anyone would ever buy one.

The compact luxury SUV market that was, arguably, launched by the Buick Encore and BMW X1 a few years ago is one of the fastest-growing segments in the industry. Mercedes, Lexus, Audi, and Volvo are getting into the act, too, but they’ll all be joined by the car you see here: the new-for-2016 Infiniti Q30.

First shown at the 2013 Frankfurt show, the Q30 is expected to “resonate with customers”, says Infiniti. “(It is) an attempt to appeal to generation X and Y buyers.”

Interestingly, this latest Infiniti isn’t built on a Nissan platform. Instead, it’s built on the same MFA platform as Mercedes’ CLA, GLA, and B-series electric vehicles. As such, we can expect it to carry similar 2.0 liter turbocharged gas engines and the 2.2 liter turbo diesel currently found in the 250 CDI series Mercedes. In those cars, these are some pretty hot engines- more than capable, in other words, of delivering on the Infiniti Q30’s promise of “coupe-like performance”.

No word, yet, on when the new Q30 will make an appearance stateside. While you wait for that news, though, you can check out some pictures of the original Infiniti Q30 concept shown 2 years ago. Enjoy!

Infiniti Q30 Concept Gallery

When the refrigerator white Mitsubishi Outlander Sport arrived in Oak Park, the area was still recovering from the record-cold of the “Polar Vortex” that had swept through days before. There was enough snow in the alley behind the house, still, that the wife’s Hyundai Tucson needed digging out more than once just to get in the garage. The little Mitsubishi? Not so much.

True to its Evo-filled heritage, the Mitsubishi Outlander Sport went anywhere I pointed it with minimal drama. With the 4WD system in “auto” mode, the crossover found grip where it could and motored along, seemingly oblivious to the snow and ice. The only time it felt like we were driving on icy roads, in fact, was when I deliberately slammed the brakes to see if they’d lock up. The ABS engaged noticeably, but that was about it.

This isn’t one of those times. This, in fact, is what “a rave review” looks like.

I liked the Mitsubishi Outlander Sport on the outside, already. Once I got inside, I was pleasantly surprised by the lumbar support and comfortable headrests. The infotainment system was a fairly intuitive touchscreen deal, and the sound system …

… was nothing short of fantastic for a factory install. Sourced from Rockford Fosgate, the stereo produced clean sound from both MP3s and the satellite radio, and did a reasonable job of dropping bottom without bottoming out. Very slick.

Another thing that I found pretty slick was the Outlander Sport’s fuel economy. Granted, the Mitsu is equipped with a fuel-saving, performance-enhancing continuously variable transmission, but it also has a tall, wagon-y body with plenty of room for four adults and a week’s worth of luggage. It also has that ice-defying 4WD/AWD system soaking up MPG. Still, this what we got:

That’s nearly 26 MPG on the single-digit temperature drive from Oak Park to Normal, IL and back. On almost the same drive, in nearly identical conditions, the tiny Chevy Sonic gave back 28 MPG and change. In that context, going significantly “up” in size and utility from the Sonic to the Outlander Sport doesn’t seem to come with even a 10% fuel economy penalty. Would a 2WD Outlander Sport do as well as the Sonic on I-55? Would it do better?

Chris and I drove this particular Outlander Sport from Chicago’s Midway airport to the Detroit Auto Show, putting another several hundred miles on the clock in icy winter conditions and with the 4WD engaged. Most of the drive happened above 70 MPH, at night, and the Mitsubishi Outlander Sport never felt unstable or squirrel-ly, even in nasty, “warp speed” lookin’ snow. Throughout the drives, we never saw the MPG drop below 25 MPG on the highway. It’s hard to imagine, then, that the 2WD version (with less weight and mechanical drag) wouldn’t deliver on its 31 highway MPG promise.

That’s just my take on the car, though- what’s yours? Check out the photo gallery, below, and let us know what you think of the little Outlander Sport in the comments section at the bottom of the page. Enjoy!

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The content produced by this site is for entertainment purposes only. Opinions and comments published on this site may not be sanctioned by, and do not necessarily represent the views of Sustainable Enterprises Media, Inc., its owners, sponsors, affiliates, or subsidiaries.

The content produced by this site is for entertainment purposes only. Opinions and comments published on this site may not be sanctioned by, and do not necessarily represent the views of Sustainable Enterprises Media, Inc., its owners, sponsors, affiliates, or subsidiaries.